in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society : Letters (2014), 438

Many nearby main-sequence stars have been searched for debris using the far-infrared Herschel satellite, within the DEBRIS, DUNES and Guaranteed-Time Key Projects. We discuss here 11 stars of spectral ... [more ▼]

Many nearby main-sequence stars have been searched for debris using the far-infrared Herschel satellite, within the DEBRIS, DUNES and Guaranteed-Time Key Projects. We discuss here 11 stars of spectral types A-M where the stellar inclination is known and can be compared to that of the spatially resolved dust belts. The discs are found to be well aligned with the stellar equators, as in the case of the Sun's Kuiper belt, and unlike many close-in planets seen in transit surveys. The ensemble of stars here can be fitted with a star-disc tilt of ≲ 10°. These results suggest that proposed mechanisms for tilting the star or disc in fact operate rarely. A few systems also host imaged planets, whose orbits at tens of au are aligned with the debris discs, contrary to what might be expected in models where external perturbers induce tilts. [less ▲]

Between February 2010 and May 2011, our group has observed five stellar occultations by Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), giving the size and shape for some of the biggest TNO's: Varuna, Eris, 2003 AZ84 ... [more ▼]

Between February 2010 and May 2011, our group has observed five stellar occultations by Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs), giving the size and shape for some of the biggest TNO's: Varuna, Eris, 2003 AZ84, Makemake and Quaoar. Here we present two of them: the January 08 stellar occultation by 2003 AZ84, and the May 04 by Quaoar. For the event of 2003 AZ84 we obtained one positive and another negative occultation chords in Chile. We give a lower limit to the diameter of the TNO. The event of Quaoar was observed from 16 sites distributed in Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Brazil. Five of them yielded positive detection of the occultation. A preliminary analysis shows that the body is probably elongated and significantly bigger than the size determined by Fraser & Brown 2010, with a diameter of 890km. Using the size determined by the occultation, we will discuss the implications for the body density and albedo determination. The upper limit of the atmosphere is also studied. [less ▲]